GIS professionals are no longer limited to mapping and land surveys. Today, industries like healthcare, finance, and even retail rely on geospatial data to drive decisions. If you’re curious about where your GIS skills can take you (or wondering what industry GIS belongs to), we’re exploring six sectors that use GIS and the types of roles you’ll find in various industries.
Teachers in many disciplines can use maps and location analytics to illustrate patterns and connections to their students. This strengthens their ability to make data-based conclusions about human-made and natural systems.
Banks and other financial institutions can use spatial analysis to identify customers likely to help their business grow. This allows them to identify common characteristics among these individuals and seek new customers with similar traits in other geographic areas.
GIS technology proved invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing officials to track case rates and analyze data on mortality, hospitalization, and recovery. Today, healthcare professionals use GIS to identify disease hotspots and high-risk areas, helping to target prevention and treatment efforts more effectively.
Is your home likely to be hit by a hurricane? Is your car likely to be stolen? (Or damaged by a hurricane, for that matter?) Are there high rates of certain diseases in your area of the country? Insurance companies of all types can look at data collected through GIS-driven analytical tools to decide if you are insurable, and if so, what your premiums are going to be.
From high-end clothing stores to fast food restaurants, retail businesses use GIS to determine where to open new brick-and-mortar locations. The technology helps identify information such as proximity of potential customers and local saturation of competing businesses.
Potential business owners can also use these tools to find out what consumers in these areas want to wear, eat, etc. to ensure that they meet the demand through proper inventory management.
Telecommunications companies can use GIS to locate and gauge the extent of service outages. It helps them plan ahead for the expansion of services required by population growth and new construction.
As GIS and geospatial technologies expand into new industries, so do the career opportunities for skilled professionals. Whether you’re entering the field or looking to advance your career, here are just a few of the roles available across industries using GIS:
Drawing from the decades-long relationship between The University of Texas Permian Basin and the GIS and geospatial industries, our online graduate GIS and Geospatial Certificate program helps you stay up to date with the latest GIS systems that are vital across various industries. And because we understand the challenge that can come with balancing a work-life schedule, our program allows you to arrange your studies around your professional and personal commitments (while adding a new credential and practical expertise to your resume).
Here are a few more reasons to consider earning our GIS and Geospatial Certificate:
Considering or currently completing an MBA with us? Add this graduate certificate for extra credentials on your resume and broader knowledge that will benefit you in an array of rewarding careers.
If you have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution and are ready to expand your GIS/geospatial proficiency, we invite you to apply now!
Sources:
https://www.esri.com/en-us/industries/index
https://mgiss.co.uk/what-are-the-different-industries-that-use-gis/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8822139
Picture a city where green spaces flourish aboveground, self-driving cars travel underground, pedestrian walkways wind through tree canopies, and waste management operates autonomously. Around the world, cities like Singapore, Oslo, and Charlotte are moving beyond this vision and making smart, sustainable urban design a reality. At the heart of these developments? Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In…
“The application of GIS is limited only by the imagination of those who use it.” – Jack Dangermond, president of Esri Geographic information systems (GIS) have become indispensable for analyzing and visualizing spatial data. While many of us associate GIS primarily with mapping and GPS (global positioning system), its applications extend far beyond these familiar uses. For instance,…
As hurricane season ramps up, people in affected parts of the country and the world are once again thinking about how to prepare for the prospect of a big storm impacting their lives. GIS systems are central to the efforts public officials, first responders, meteorologists, and others make in managing crisis situations, including hurricanes, earthquakes,…